28 July 2007

Ever heard of a Woolies Pharmacy? The revamped Woolworths in the Kloof Street Lifestyle Centre now features a pharmacy which is open during store hours (even Sundays 9 to 5). This is the pilot store, with another pharmacy planned for Johannesburg.

Tamara and Ingrid picked me up to go to the market at the Biscuit Mill in Soutrivier. Ingrid demonstrated her impressive parking skills (almost like a stunt from Fear Factor). New experiences at the market included: Glühwein made form white wine (1), fluorescent fynbos (2), that the almond croissants were sold out (3), and chatting to Tom (4).

21 July 2007

Joyously met up with Mfundo and Odwa at the Hout Bay Cultural Centre this morning. The big news: we have received another double bass! I don't know who was so kind to donate the bass, it came all the way from the Netherlands, but thank you! Thank you!

Mfundo is preparing for the Royal Schools Grade III double bass exam and Odwa and I successfully negotiated the G-major scale this morning. Another dear blog moment.

19 July 2007

Guess where I am? Nope. I am blogging from ORTIA. Just flew in from Phalaborwa where I closed out the SEACAT 2.3 study at Lulekani. On the plane I started chatting to my neighbour (which is so totally out of character) without realising that it was Deon Maas (Afrikaans Idols' rude judge). He is quite an interesting conversationalist and even hit me in the stomach once!? We discussed raciscism in Europe, old Universities (did you know there has been an Islamic university in Nigeria since 980 AD?), Idols, Deon's current audio and television productions and Joan Hambidge. Time just flew by. Also, Deon gets quite anxious during landing... now there is some dirt for you.

15 July 2007

14 July 2007

Winter in Cape Town is grand. I walked down Kloof Street to buy breakfast essentials wearing my impolite baseball cap (a gift from Jannie) and my Uppsala University T-shirt. On the way back I order a copy of Harrius Potter et antrum exsanguis. Braamie is in an organisational mood and I tried to escape, but alas, 23 minutes later my life was all ordered and filed. He also made me do the dishes.Braamie and I have this ritual. We listen to the Mozart requiem and drink wine when a beloved pet dies. We don't have pets yet, but our friends do and they die. So now we are listening to the requiem and getting a little drunk to celebrate the life of Mufaza [sic], Braamie's mother's sister's recently deceased cat.

Also, great news for Haydn fans: I rediscovered a CD of symphonies 93, 94 and 103 performed by Solistes Européens Luxembourg. The recording is mind-blowingly awesome. I whistled the theme from the last movement of the 103 during my visit to the Gardens Centre where I had a very pleasant banking experience and asked the Russian lady at the überexpensive kitchen store about appliances to make smoothies. She recommends the Bosch MMB2000 600 Watt Blender.

12 July 2007

Lower Kloof Street has transformed during my sojourn in Sweden. Walking down to Royale Eatery in Long Street last night, I noticed the new bakery at the bottom of Kloof Street and convinced Tamara to have breakfast with me there this morning. The settings is quite trendy and my americano was perfect.

09 July 2007

Braamie and I spent a wonderful weekend in George. My parents are still prepping Alex's place in Bloemfontein for sale, so we took the oppurtunity to spend some quality time with the Hattinghs in Heroldsbaai and the Jouberts on Kingswood. The BIG news is that I will become an uncle again. Louis and Suzette are expecting their first Van der Waltjie. It is bound to be a boy - there are just no girls in our family (well, except me and Braamie).Braamie took most of the photos. The first shows the view when you wake up in Heroldsbaai (my photo). The other photos are of Kingswood (between Fancourt and George golf courses). It was a lazy Sunday morning with a crackling fire and a long breakfast. Josua and I played honeymoon bridge (although it looks more like we're playing SNAP!), Azélle was knitting and Braamie was reading the Sarie (the one about Sonja Herold). Absolutely heaven!